A temperature increase of 2° C or 1.5° C represents an increase in global average near surface temperature compared with pre-industrial times (circa 1750). This is meant to be an indicator of local climate changes. Importantly, a 2° C or 1.5° C global average increase can translate into much higher temperature changes locally.

There are significant uncertainties in the relationship between temperature, emission pathways, cumulative emissions, and atmospheric concentrations. Therefore, in this assessment, each emission pathway is associated with a range of probabilities for temperature, reflecting uncertainties in the carbon cycle and many other aspects of the climate system. Hence, an emission pathway is associated with probabilities of staying within a range of different temperature changes.

To illustrate, an emission pathway that has a 50 per cent chance of limiting warming to under 2° C, may also have a 5 per cent probability that warming will exceed 3° C and, say, a 10 per cent probability of staying below 1.5° C. Similarly, an emission pathway that has a 66 per cent chance of staying under 2° C, may also have a probability of less than 3 per cent that warming will exceed 3° C and, say, a 20 per cent probability of staying below 1.5° C.

In this assessment we focus on emission pathways that lead to a global average temperature increase of less than 2° C over this century with a “likely” chance (greater than 66 per cent probability) and then explain how they would be different for a “medium” chance (50-66 per cent probability). In addition we examine pathways in which the temperature changes are below 1.5° C by the end of the century, but “overshoots” this value for part of the century.